Coal industry sees lifeline in big deposits out West

The fight over the future of the American coal industry is on the Western frontier now.

Coal companies are tapping the rich deposits in Wyoming and Montana’s Powder River Basin and other Western states and moving away from the declining reserves in the East, but they are running into stiff resistance from green groups and some powerful political forces.

Text Size

-

+

reset

The new battle is on the shores of the West Coast over plans to open large ports that would enable coal producers to move trainloads of the fuel through Washington state and Oregon for export to energy-hungry markets such as China.

Those fighting for and against the new ports and rail lines say the outcome could have dire consequences. But they’re fighting different wars: some for the survival of the American coal industry, others against global warming.

Cheap, abundant natural gas and ever stricter federal pollution regulations have eroded coal’s share of the U.S. electricity market, and the industry is banking on selling its product overseas as a lifeline.

But environmentalists and some key politicians say that coal, whether burned in the U.S. or abroad, will contribute to climate change, and they want the government to consider the long-term effects of its greenhouse gas pollution.

Four coal port projects are currently under development, two in Oregon at the Port of Morrow and the Port of St. Helens, and two in Washington at Cherry Point and Longview. The Morrow project is by far the smallest and the furthest along, with completion expected this year, and the other three are still facing lengthy federal environmental reviews.

Sierra Club spokeswoman Krista Collard argues that allowing more coal exports from the Northwest is among the “top five … proposals in the world that could send us over the climate cliff if they are developed.”

And greens are drawing grass-roots support to oppose terminals from a wide swath of local interests: Realtors and homeowners worried about housing prices; the agriculture, tourism and fishing industries that fear air and water pollution; local residents and officials anxious about train and barge traffic.

Environmental groups also say coal dust’s destabilizing effect on train tracks could mean more dangerous derailments. At least 11 coal train derailments have occurred in the U.S. this year, according to anti-export group Power Past Coal.

These issues will come up in the permitting process — and the local and federal government decisions and federal review process for the facilities will be the “two key pivots” for the port projects, said Kevin Book, an analyst with Clearview Energy Partners.

Green groups opposing the terminals — and skeptical Oregon and Washington governors — want the Army Corps of Engineers to do a broader, “programmatic” review of the projects, rather than “areawide,” regional reviews or limited single-project reviews. That is generally opposed by industry and would take much longer and draw in much more public input — undoubtedly meaning more opposition.